Posted on 12/02/2013 9:09:37 AM PST by jazusamo
Depressing news about black students scoring far below white students on various mental tests has become so familiar that people in different parts of the ideological spectrum have long ago developed their different explanations for why this is so. But both may have to do some rethinking, in light of radically different news from England.
The November 9th-15th issue of the distinguished British magazine "The Economist" reports that, among children who are eligible for free meals in England's schools, black children of immigrants from Africa meet the standards of school tests nearly 60 percent of the time — as do immigrant children from Bangladesh and Pakistan. Black children of immigrants from the Caribbean meet the standards less than 50 percent of the time.
At the bottom, among those children who are all from families with low enough incomes to receive free meals at school, are white English children, who meet the standards 30 percent of the time.
"The Economist" points out that, in one borough of London, white students scored lower than black students in any London borough.
These data might seem to be some kind of fluke, but they confirm the observations in a book titled "Life at the Bottom" by British physician Theodore Dalrymple. He said that, among the patients he treated in a hospital near a low-income housing project, he could not recall any white 16-year-old who could multiply nine by seven. Some could not even do three times seven.
What jolts us is not only that this phenomenon is so different from what we are used to seeing in the United States, but also that it fits neither the genetic nor the environmental explanation of black-white educational differences here.
(Excerpt) Read more at creators.com ...
"Fitness" is all about the environment in which the organism resides. Change the environment and the currently "fit" becomes unfit, and the currently "unfit" becomes "fit"
There was an interesting experiment that I read about long ago. Two types of bacteria were kept together in the same petri dish. As long as they were kept separated by centrifuge, they both flourished.
But when they were allowed to mix, in every instance one of the species disappeared. And in every instance, it was the same one.
However, it the temperature was altered a few degrees, or the pH altered, I forget which, the other species was wiped out instead.
Makes me think.
In the Carboniferous Epoch we were promised abundance for all,
By robbing selected Peter to pay for collective Paul;
But, though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money could buy,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "If you don't work you die."
Mr. Sowell points out something much worse, in my opinion, than the economic destruction ultimately wrought by socialism. Socialism, aka wealth redistribution, destroys human potential. It creates dependency and lives of low expectations rather than inspiring people to rise to the best of their God-given abilities. Who knows what these poor children might have achieved?
This is also why I claim socialists are downright evil. Oh, I don’t doubt they believe they’re doing good, but a person who is always handed a crutch never learns to walk. Socialists penalize success and subsidize failure.
That what Sowell says.
Or raise them to be vareer victims. Didn't anyone actually read the article?
These poor folks aren’t generally stupid. They’re ignorant. The human mind is a machine that can be taught to do wonderful things, but it has to be used. Most of these children have the potential to do much, much more.
Hogwash!
I mean everybody knows that blacks are mentally inferior to whites and Asians. Just read The Bell Curve which proves beyond the shadow of doubt that this is true.
Everybody knows this, right?
Right? </sarcasm>
Jesus Christ: You can’t impeach Him and He ain’t going to resign.
Now you did it. You mentioned fathers!
Immorality causes most of the world’s problems. Want to be successful in life? Follow Christ. The 10 Commandments are very, very good advice, and people who follow them generally live healthy and happy lives.
So, yes. These homes need fathers. They need parents who stay together and work together to raise their own children. Get married, stay married. That’s generally a recipe for success.
You’re right. Mr. Sowell was pointing out it wasn’t the poverty so much that these groups believed they were victims and acted accordingly. That’s the other side of the socialism coin. On the one side you have the socialists who redistribute other people’s money (OPM) out of a desire to help. On the other side you have the victim groups who believe they are owed something simply for being born.
Which comes first? I don’t know, but I do know the victim groups really do believe they’re owed something. That’s something we need to consider if we ever get a chance to roll back some of the government programs that are channeling money to the victim groups. Those groups will likely react, violently.
Sure, that’s why Thomas Sowell is so inferior to ... um ... well, inferior to ... help me out here, anyone?
The native born whites at the bottom in England have probably been near the bottom for a few centuries. This might be evidence of the role of genetics, and that, regrettably, those at the lower end of intelligence gradually settle at the lower end of societal success and remain there.
Also, be careful how you interpret the Bell Curve. The researchers who wrote the book stated that the mean for Blacks was half a standard deviation below the mean for Whites. However, that still means a fair number of Blacks in the right hand end of the Bell Curve, above the mean for Whites.
Not true. I recommend the writing of Theodore Dalrymple re "life at the bottom".
There will always be variation in individual intelligence, but the UK 'social welfare' system of "supporting" (keeping down) whole communities of unproductive people has created a dead zone of parasites. It is evil and ever more destructive of the larger community!
The definition of fitness changes.
During fat times, fitness is highest production of offspring. All survive, and more means more.
During lean times, fitness is highest survival rate of offspring producing individuals.
Darwin recognized that charity would help the crippled survive, but also recognized that it was our Christian duty to help.
The difference between means between groups is less than the standard deviation within groups.
That means that there is greater difference within the group than their is between groups. When that happens, you shouldn’t use group membership (alone) to drive decisions.
I did. "teach an explicit or implicit ideology of not trying"
Maybe an email to Sowell? His stuff's always worth reading... I think he's got something important brewing with this one.
“pH altered”...
Andromeda Strain?
The only limitation to potential is that which we impose on ourselves. There are many examples of people surpassing all expectations throughout history.
So you really believe that there are no inborn differences between humans at all?
Nice idea, but unfortunately the evidence indicates somewhere between 1/2 and 3/4 of human intelligence is determined before birth. It can be degraded but not increased, as with so many human characteristics.
That some people exceed their own and others expectations does not address this issue at all. It just means that the expectations were mistaken.
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